pistol or no pistol while stalking hogs?

Im thinking about safety since I do hunt solo on National forest land and Im usually a mile or 2 from the nearest road. I have a dedicated rifle Ive set up for this type of hunting in an AR platform. I havent really seen a reason to carry my 45 since I have a bad [censored] AR in my hands already. Should I rethink this? Typically it is just extra weight and something else to deal with when trudging through thick cover so I havent carried a pistol. What say the THF crowd? Who carries and who doesn't?

I never carry a pistol on private land when stalking hogs and not allowed to on Ft Hood even when bow hunting.

I also carry a pistol when hunting. Don't expect to drop them in their tracks unless you shoot them in the head.

A couple years back, I was taking a hunter and his buddy to the stand and had a big hog present a shot on the way there. He knocked the hog down and the two guys started to high five each other and before you knew it, the "dead" hog was coming full steam our way. The California hunter took off running with the only rifle away from the hog with his buddy close behind, and I was able to draw and shoot before it got in my lap but it was close. I happened to just throw that pistol on as a last minute decision that morning and glad I did! I never go out without one now.

Also, one of the guides was tracking a wounded deer several years ago and crossed paths with a sow with little piglets. The sow charged him and he was able to draw and fire from less than a yard. The dead sow's nose was literally touching his boot when it was over. He still carries a pistol in the brush to this day too lol.

I recommend a Blackhawk Serpa type of holster that has nice retaining features. You would be surprised how often your pistol gets stuck on brush when dragging game out. I switched to this and love it, but it does rub the pistol a little but I don't mind that, here is a link to some that Academy carries. Link https://www.academy.com/shop/browse/SearchDisplay?searchTerm=blackhawk%20serpa%20holster

Always with a pistol. Happened to win a shotgun in a raffle last night and am going to sell it and up my sidearm to a Sig P220 Hunter 10mm.

Im about to sight my thermal in on my crossbow in the next few days. Gonna try to stalk a hog and get within 20 yds or less before shooting. Wont have a sidearm though. Will post a video if it works out.

I always carry a pistol whether I'm hunting or not.

Carry and when pig hunting pistol has a light on it

Sometimes I carry pistol and sometimes I don't

I always carry a side arm when hunting anything; as a matter of fact, I always carry a side arm, period!

If stalking, my 1911 is on my hip.
If stand hunting, same 1911 is in backpack until pigs go down, then the pistol straps on before I hit the ground to check on downed pigs.

I would like to but I'm a school teacher and so guns are not allowed on school grounds. In fact you will loose your job if one is found in your car by the drug sniffing dogs. So, I carry when I get home after work and on weekends. I so wish they would change the law because cowards know that we are all unarmed and defenseless while in school.

Same here. Gun is on my hip where ever legal to do so.

Last year I had a nice size boar come up to the feeder, was using my sons .300 BO with the ATN X-sight on it. Took a shot at the pig and the sight turned off, didn't have the battery cap tight enough, and I hadn't checked his zero, it was about 2 feet off. I was in an elevated stand, there was a nice bright moon and the boar was nice enough to come across the field towards me. My Glock 23 has night sights, I hit him twice as he came across the field.

When I hunt during the week Im usually by myself. I usually put my pigsticker on my hip instead of my pistol.
I've been charged several times and have been lucky. I know I should carry and plan to start. soon

carry a .40 with a light on it - helps when in thick brush where headlamp doesn't work too well.

Y’all act like hogs are charging people left and right and are out for blood haha

I typically carry a .22 in case I need to polish off a wounded hog or take on an angry snake.

As far as charging hogs, I've never had that happen. If it does, there's no way I'm throwing down my rifle so I can grapple with getting a pistol out of a holster!

I don't see the point. I can finish off a wounded hog just fine with the carbine in my hand. A side arm is just one more thing to carry. I'm wanting to lighten my load, not increase it.

As far as getting "charged", good grief.

In the extremely unlikely event that it were to happen, I sure as heck ain't dropping my carbine and going for a handgun.

The only sure way to stop a hog from charging, is take away her credit card.

Now, using a handgun as a primary weapon and leaving the rifle at home, that's very cool

Yup.....40 with a light and night sights.

I typically do, just because I don't have a big place to walk around on and so carrying a little more gear isn't a big deal. Will say one morning my feeder didn't throw and so I walked down to it to tinker. Set my rifle down and stepped a few feet away to fix it. Screw driver in one hand and timer cover in the other hand. I hear something get up behind me and there was a pig probably 15 yards from me. Luckily he turned around and we parted amicably, but I had a single shot 7mm-08 and it was a couple steps away. Odds of me making it to the rifle in time, much less sending my one shot accurately would have been pretty slim. Pistol was sitting on a chair in the blind. Pig was bedded down in some thick brush at the tree line and just didn't see him or expect him to be there. I tend to carry one with me from now on.

I don't carry a sidearm when hunting but if I'm mowing, spraying fence lines etc. I'll carry my .40

Make a better first shot......

I like to carry a pistol just in case of rifle jamming.

Dropping a functioning carbine and drawing a pistol is just silly if a hog is charging you. The carbine is much more effective and as long is it is still running and has ammo in it should be what you use to shoot a charging pig.

But I have twice had optics fail me on hunting trips. Having a handgun gives me an option to keep hunting. Using a handgun as a primary is fun, It's also fun to be set up with a high powered rifle overlooking a feeder 100 yards away and have a small boar come walking almost underneath your tripod stand and be able to think "I wonder if my Glock .40 will kill a pig" then slowly draw and pop him.

For many years my primary deer hunting gun was a TC Contender single shot pistol in .44 mag. I would also carry a Ruger Blackhawk or a S&W 29 as a second gun. I can recall 3 occasions where I shot at the deer with the Contender and instead of reloading it drew the revolver and finished off the deer. Two of those the deer was probably dead anyway and the extra holes were unnecessary.

So I would say in all my years of deer and hog hunting twice having a handgun allowed me to kill an animal that I would not have if I had not been carrying a 2nd gun. (counting the hog I mentioned in a previous thread) Neither of those were to stop a charging animal.

Does that make it worth carrying a 2nd gun? For me, yes. If you don't think so, that's fine

I carry my Glock 23 or Glock 26 wherever it is legal to do so, I'm used to having a pistol on my hip on a daily basis. So having one more thing to carry doesn't bother me.

But again if you don't want to carry the weight, have a reliable rifle or carbine with quality optics and mounts there isn't really need for you to carry a handgun.

I always carry my pistol when hunting (private land). Many a pig got an earful when I finally found them in the brush.

I don't need a pistol as long as I have my trusty AR

I carry a 22 pistol a lot. Good for finishing off squirmy hogs and fun to play with in case of other small critters and snakes too. Ruger 22/45, not too heavy at all, carry an extra mag.

Kimber CDP. Never know when the primary malfunctions. Like having it there as a backup for the walk back.

Sig p226 357sig

I used to just carry my everyday carry gun when bowhunting, but after a close range stare down with a sizeable boar one morning I decided to up my game. I now carry a G20 with a light/laser mounted on it.

I usually carry a Ruger blackhawk in 357.

It only takes one you know

I believe, by law in Texas, if you are a teacher with a CHL, they can not bar you from keeping your CHL in a locked car in the parking lot.

^^ This. ALWAYS!

If I have a rifle in my hands why would I need a pistol.

I'll make a slightly different point. When using NV gear, it can be virtually impossible to use your rifle at really short ranges, unless you install a laser pointer or similar, but that adds bulk, is yet one more gadget to attach to the rifle, etc. I carry a Taurus Titanium Tracker (TTT, lol) with a Crimson Trace grip. It's not for fear of charging hogs, but just a recognition that walking up to "dead" hogs at midnight can lead to unexpected results.

Sometimes rifles fail to work, scopes break, mounts break, you trip and fall, magazines get dropped or they run out of ammo, semi autos jam, my dad had a Remington 742 that on a couple of occasions as best we could figure got condensation that froze in the firing pin channel on really cold days you could get a click instead of a bang.

Stuff happens.

You can drive around for years and never get a flat tire, but I bet you still keep a spare in the trunk.

I carry a Ruger .45 or .44 mag.

As I mentioned previously, I carry a piece whenever I leave the house. It's comforting to know it's there for contingencies, no matter what type of contingencies arise. In the hunting field, on the road, in a restaurant, or in a store. In this day and age, given all the crappola that's going on, I think it's worth the hassle to carry all the time.

I think I will continue what I have been doing which is while carrying my AR on stalk hunts I will not carry a pistol. The 13 rounds of 6.8 should be twice the amount I actually need. (15 round mag minus 2) but on muzzy hunts the pistol will definitely be there. I just dont see a reason to carry a pistol when carrying a carbine,.

I carry my 9 in the woods while hunting, just incase

A firearm is a mechanical device that uses pressure from a burning tube to force a projectile through and out of a metal tube.
A mechanical device is subject to failure at any time it's in use.

When hunting hogs, Glock 20 on my hip. When hunting deer, Glock 20 in my backpack.

huntsolo meself on WMA, thick stuff have pushed out many a hogs & not able ta get round down range, they can zig-zag threw dence brush & switch Cain faster than ya can maneuver your rifle.
As you stated it extra weight ta pack, & if out in more open terrain rifle better.
If going in after wounded hog in thick stuff, can't beat a pistal,

This is true. However, as I've said before, presently I just carry a .22 pistol. I figure if the hog is mobile it's probably still running! If I find it, that means it's not very mobile and a .22 to the head usually diminishes it's mobility even further.

I always my carry my Kimber 9 whether hunting or working.

The end result of this thread was that I just mounted a green laser on my night hunting rig. I decided to zero it by inserting a red bore sighting chamber laser and then synchronizing the two lasers at about 15 feet. Because of the L/R offset between the laser and the bore, the point of impact is slightly right at 10 feet and slightly left at 20 feet. But the laser is only intended for use at ranges too short for the NV scope, so the slight POI shift shouldn't be an issue.

Laser mounted on left or right side of barrell. 30-30 Winchester some had ta use side mounts scopes. 30-30 winchester i got has ejection upper right side. Had higher ring mounts, took them off.
My AR-15 cheap Mil-dot scope on top, gathers some light & green laser under barrel zeroed in at 20 yards. Close range for set up had at creek, edge of trees, corn feeder-deer food plot with lights & corn feeder-deer plot in open pasture. Hog hunts at WMA was thick turrian close shots, further out used mil-dot. Just a thought, can ya mounts laser under barrel ?

I've got a sling/bi-pod mount on the bottom. I could move it, but there would still be a question of where to synchronize the vertical. At ranges more than about 10 or 12 yards, I'll be using my NV scope, so the laser only has to be synchronized with the bullet flight for about the first 30 feet or so. I'm only planning on using the laser for walking up to "dead" hogs. That said, I've started shooting at sounders at perhaps 40 yards and have had them run toward me in the dark. I shot one of them at under 20 yards, but I'm still surprised that I manged to find a small running hog with my limited field of view. I've also missed a hog at almost spitting distance with my rifle when I forgot to account for the difference between the line of sight and line of bullet flight. It was certainly funny at the time, but I'd prefer not to make the same mistake again.

1911 10mm on my hip and it works great for finishing them off.

Pistol, always with pistol.

A nice colt 1911 in 10 mm may be my next hunting pistol. At least it just seems like a better hunting round over my 45. The 45 is really for 2 legged critters anyways. That is what it excels at.

always carry pistol for back up , its just a good idea.

I have stalked many hogs and have almost never carried a side arm (I have had a pistol at times, but not for fear of hog). I always figured in a heated situation that my rifle would do just fine, and probably shoot straighter. I have had situations where a hog was only 15-20ft (not charging), and the rifle worked like a charm.

Depends. First hog shot was on first lease, dark-thrity with 30-30. They ran inta woods. Went back ta camp ta grab me pistal & flash light. Another member just arrived, he grabbed hos pistal also. We found signs of hit, he had flash light held 4D batteries, easy trailing. It started getting thicker, he stopped, i continued on till was on hands & knees, looking inta cave like thicket, & marked it with TP. While most would call me, & would agree, a wounded hog is very dangerous, felt confident, with pistal, over rifle, due ta fastdraw hobbie. On an early morning solo hunt, with 30-30, no pistal, also followed wounded hog, into thick stuff, was on hands & knees. Followed it threw with the 30-30, wish would have had pistal. Difference was it was daylight & kept pressure on it. Different hunt 30-30 right at dark-thirty, no pistal, wounded hog. It was cool that night, so went back next day. As pappy says: call me crazy just don't call me lazy.
Just like with me huntsolo night hunts with flashlight off, don't recommend it. High-tech makes it Safer.

I don't think you are correct on this. Pretty sure you are still prohibited without written consent from the school board.

i only carry a pistol if theres a threat of 2 legged critters but honestly not too many smugglers and cartel mules cross my place. ill also carry one if thats what im hunting with.

jesus, lots of yall are scared of pigs!! theyre not out to get you, stalking you, or blood thirsty.

so you've seen the threads about the zombi hogs. 99% of time hogs gonna avoid ya. Stay Safe.